Wing Tsun History

The founder of the Wing Tsun Kung Fu System, Miss Yim Wing Tsun was a native of Canton China. As a young girl, she was intelligent and athletic, outstanding and manly. She was betrothed to Leung Bok Chau, a salt merchant of Fukien. Soon after that, her mother died. Her Father, Yim Yee, had been wrongfully accused of a crime, and nearly went to jail. So the family moved far away, and finally settled down at the foot of Tai Leung Mountain at the Yunnan-Szechuan border. There, they earned a living selling bean curd. All this happened during the reign of Emperor K'anghsi (1662-1722).

At the time, kung fu was becoming very strong in Siu Lam Monastery (Shaolin Monastery) of Mt. Sung, Honan. This aroused the fear of the Manchu government, which sent troops to attack the Monastery but they were unsuccessful. Chan Man Wai, that year's First Place Graduate of the Civil Service Examination, sought favor with the government and suggested a plan. Plotting with Siu Lam monk Ma Ning Yee and others, they set fire to the Monastery while soldiers attacked it from the outside. Siu Lam was burnt down and the monks scattered. Buddhist Abbess Ng Mui, Abbot Chi Shin, Abbot Pak Mei, Master Fung To Tak and Master Miu Hin escaped and fled their separate ways.

Ng Mui took refuge in White Crane Temple on Mt. Tai Leung (also known as Mt. Chai Har). There, she came to know Yim Yee and his daughter Yim Wing Tsun. She would buy bean curd at their store and thus became friends.

Wing Tsun was a young woman then and her beauty attracted the attention of a local bully. He tried to force Wing Tsun to marry him. She and her father were very worried. Ng Mui learned of this and took pity on Wing Tsun and so, agreed to teach Wing Tsun fighting techniques so that she could protect herself. Then she would be able to solve the problem with the bully and marry Leung Bok Chau, her betrothed husband.

Wing Tsun followed Ng Mui into the mountains, and started to learn kung fu. She trained night and day, and mastered the techniques. She then challenged the bully to a fight and beat him. Ng Mui set off to travel around the country but before leaving, she told Wing Tsun to strictly honor the kung fu traditions, to develop her kung fu after her marriage, and to help the people working to overthrow the Manchu government and restore the Ming Dynasty. This is how Plum Blossom kung fu was handed down by Abbess Ng Mui. After the marriage, Wing Tsun taught her Kung fu to her husband Leung Bok Chau, who renamed it after her. He passed his kung fu techniques on to Leung Lan Kwai, who passed it on to Wong Wah Bo who was a member of an opera troupe on board a junk, known as the Red Junk. It happened that Abbott Chi Shin, who also had fled from the Siu Lam Monastery, had disguised himself as a cook and was working on the Red Junk. Chi Shin had taught the Six-and-a-half Point Long Pole techniques to Leung Yee Tei, who was close to Wong Wah Bo, and so they shared their knowledge of kung fu. Together they correlated and improved their techniques and thus the Six-and-a-half Point Long Pole techniques were incorporated into the Wing Tsun syestem.

Leung Yee Tei passed the kung fu on to Leung Jan, a well known herbal doctor in Fat Shan. Leung Jan grasped the inner-most secrets of Wing Tsun and attained the highest level of proficiency. Many kung fu masters came to challenge him, but all were defeated and thus Leung Jan became very famous. Later, he passed his kung fu on to Chan Wah Shan, who took Yip Man as his student. Yip Man studied kung fu alongside his kung fu brothers such as Ng Siu Lo, Ng Chung So, Chan Yu Min and Lui Yu Jai. Wing Tsun was thus passed down to us, and we are eternally grateful to our kung fu ancestors and teachers.